Polyacetal resins generally have excellent mechanical properties, such as creep characteristic, fatigue characteristic, and electric properties suitable for producing engineering resins. Polyacetal resins, because of their inherent strong mechanical properties, are widely used, for example for producing automotive, electrical, and electronic parts.
Polyacetal resins are usually obtained by homopolymerizing or copolymerizing formaldehyde or trioxane with a cyclic ether, with a compound having an active hydrogen, such as water, alcohol and the like, used as a chain transfer agent. However, polyacetal resins obtained in this manner are not biodegradable.
On the other hand, while monosaccharides and polysaccharides are biodegradable, they alone cannot be used as a thermoplastic resin. At present, polysaccharides, used as a monomer, can produce thermoplastic resins, but only in a very limited capacity. For example, cellulose can be used in injection molding, extrusion, etc., after being subjected to esterification, etherification, and the like. The problem with this type of thermoplastic resins, however, is that they do not provide the necessary engineering resin mechanical properties, fatigue characteristic etc., and therefore, are not suitable for forming engineering resins.